1999 The Internet Debates on the Bakweri Land Problem

After the 1999 BLCC memorandum was published in Cameroonian Internet forums it generated a flurry of heated and sometimes acrimonious debate among members of the Cameroonian Diaspora commmunity, many of whom had never heard of the Bakweri Land Problem, or where not aware of the extent and brutal nature of German land expropriation in Fako division in the late 19th century.

In the course of these, debates a general consensus emerged -- even among some of the most vocal supporters of the current Cameroonian regime-- that the CDC should not be privatized without an honest attempt by the Cameroonian government to address the long-standing grievances of the Bakweri people, and that being a very integral part of the lives of Anglophone Cameroonians, the CDC should not be sold to third parties without taking into account the interests of Cameroon’s Anglophone community for whom the corporation was established at the British government after the Second World War.

The entirety of the CDC debates took place on Cameroonian Internet discussion forums in Europe and America, particularly on the Italy-based CAMNET, and the US-based CAMNETWORK, SCNC FORUM, and FAKONET.

This publication is made up of a selection of some of the most interesting, controversial, passionate and instructive of these postings culled from about four months of heated on-line discussions that involved Cameroonians from all walks of life and from all corners of the globe.

Although these debates were never meant to be a scientific poll on national feelings about the planned privatization of the CDC, they nonetheless stand out as the most reliable gauge of how Cameroonian masses feel about this privatization, especially with regards to the cavalier and secretive manner in which it is apparently being carried out, without any regard for the legitimate demands and grievances of the Cameroonian people.

Click here to print or download the Internet debates compilation in PDF format

Comments

[Caburbunda]

mm.. very nice